Davies ‘confident’ with new Ducati parts package

Even though Ducati’s Chaz Davies is still not 100 per cent recovered from his big Jerez testing crash last year, the Welsh flyer is confident the new parts package bolted on to his outgoing Panigale V-twin will be enough for him to again challenge Jonathan Rea for the WorldSBK title.

Davies had to alter his training regime over winter to not overstress his left shoulder and right knee but feels he should be fully fit by the time the lights go out at Phillip Island later this month.

“The main thing was to go through the new material that we had and understand it a little bit. We definitely achieved things, I think that our bike – it’s not a new package – is a familiar bike, so we took our time to understand the things that we introduced. Because we already know the other parts of the bike, it’s not so important to go over old ground,” said Davies.

“The new introductions are really important to understand, and we got a decent handle on them in the four days we had in January. Its more difficult at the track to take something from new parts, it’s difficult to turn it into a positive lap time and reap the awards straight away.

“I’m pretty confident that with all the data we got, and with all the analysis back at Ducati, that we can be ready before the first race, and can put all our introductions to good use. I’m really confident that some of our introductions will pay off in the long term, its just right now there’s some teething issues.”